Bank's lawsuit dismissed

Feb. 11, 2012

A judge’s decision Friday gives the city of Stevens Point the green light to redevelop the CenterPoint MarketPlace, pictured here in February 2006 when it still had multiple stores. / Journal file photo

Written by

B.C. Kowalski

Journal staff

A Portage County judge Friday paved the way for Mid-State Technical College to move into the nearly vacant mall in downtown Stevens Point.

Portage County Circuit Judge Thomas Flugaur dismissed a lawsuit by former CenterPoint MarketPlace owner Valley Bank that accused the city of improperly condemning and taking over the mall. He was scheduled to hear that lawsuit in April.

A visibly enthusiastic Mayor Andrew Halverson said Friday the court's decision was critical, because the city has until February 2013 to use a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant to redevelop the site.

"(The decision) answers the final chapter of what the future of this building is going to be," Halverson said.

Valley Bank Senior Vice President Steve Janney said he was disappointed by Friday's ruling and is considering an appeal.

The ruling also paves the way for other pieces of Halverson's redevelopment plan announced in late 2010. The plan includes extending Third Street to Centerpoint Drive, moving the parks department to what will be the former Mid-State Technical College building at 933 Michigan Ave., and moving the Portage County Boys & Girls Club into the vacated parks department building, 2442 Sims Ave.

Flugaur on Friday was scheduled to decide only whether to allow the city to begin work on the property or bar it from doing any work until he ruled on Valley's condemnation lawsuit in April.

The lawsuit claimed that the city cited the wrong statute when it condemned the mall in May of last year. The city condemned the mall after a deal to buy the property from the Iowa-based bank fell through in April.

Those testifying at the May hearing to determine whether the mall should be condemned called the property obsolete, saying it had outlived its use as a mall and was therefore blighted.

Flugaur said the condemnation was legal because both chapters of state law about condemnation refer to obsolescence as a possible reason for blight.

Mid-State Technical College Stevens Point campus Dean Steve Smith said he planned to meet with Community Development Director Michael Ostrowski on Monday to discuss the next steps in the redevelopment project.

Sarah O'Donnell, Portage County Business Council Foundation director, was executive director of the Association of Downtown Businesses when a referendumwas passed in which voters approved borrowing $5.9 million for the mall project.

"Voters will finally get to see the project they wanted to see happen in that space," O'Donnell said.